Khadija Hafiz was looking to buy a black cloth for her lawyer’s gown at Lahore’s Liberty Market when a man approached her. “Are you a lawyer?” he asked, looking at the black coat she had on, before adding, “I need your help, please.” A daily wage labourer, Ahmed* told Khadija about the seven years he had spent unsuccessfully struggling to get a computerised national identity card (CNIC) made for himself and the continuous back-and-forth
Child Rights in Focus
BAHAWALPUR: Teachers across Punjab took to the streets on World Teachers’ Day on 5th October, demanding a reversal of privatisation policies in the education sector and the restoration of pension benefits. Demonstrations were held in Lodhran, Okara, Faisalabad, and Sahiwal, where teachers condemned the outsourcing of public schools and other government policies they believe are detrimental to the education system and their rights. Teachers observed the day as a “black day,” voicing their concerns
ISLAMABAD: Violence is a reality for half of the world’s children as one billion of them experience physical, emotional or sexual abuse every year. “Experiencing violence is not only a violation of children’s rights, it also increases the risk of mental health conditions, non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cancer, infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, and social problems such as criminal activity and substance abuse,” said the World Health Organisation (WHO). “Violence does more than
• AKUH doctor says Mefenamic acid, not paracetamol, should be used for fever, pain • People urged to practice good hygiene, use boiled water for drinking, eat properly cooked food, and getting their children vaccinated KARACHI: A growing number of children reporting to health facilities these days with non-specific signs, such as sore throat, body pains and slight fever are being found infected with the hepatitis A virus, it has emerged. “Hepatitis A is
UMERKOT: The bodies of a 32-year-old man and his three children aged between four and eight were found hanging from a tree near Palli Morr (turning) within the jurisdiction of the Bodar Farm police station of Umerkot district late on the evening of October 4. The police collected the bodies and took them to a government hospital for a postmortem examination. The man was identified as Chaman Kolhi and his children as Bhagchand, 8,
KARACHI: A minor boy drowned while another was rescued from a drain at Sohrab Goth on 4th October, rescue services officials said. Rescue-1122 official Hassaan Khan told Dawn that two children were playing with an electric wire at the bank of a nullah (drain) near Sohrab Goth when they suffered an electric shock and fell in the drain. He said that one boy, identified as Ismail Fakhar, 12, who was at the bank of
LAHORE: Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on 4th October laid a foundation stone of the country’s first autism school in the public sector. She directed the authorities concerned to immediately start hiring autism experts. “Pakistan’s first autism school project is very close to my heart. A child with autism deserves compassion and love,” she said and inspected the model of autism school and was briefed on it by the authorities concerned here on Friday. The
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on 4th October directed the Punjab school education secretary to evaluate a representation of two social workers seeking facilities for visually-impaired students in the educational institutions of the province. Justice Shujaat Ali Khan heard a petition filed by Sakhi Usman and Ali Abbas, who being students and social workers, wrote a research paper for the betterment of visually-impaired students studying in different institutions. Advocate Humayoun Faiz Rasool appeared on
ISLAMABAD: The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad has confirmed the presence of the wild poliovirus in environmental samples from 15 cities across Pakistan. These findings, based on samples collected between early and mid-September 2024, highlight the continued circulation of the virus in key urban and rural areas, reinforcing the urgent need for enhanced polio eradication efforts. Dera Ghazi Khan, a district already dealing with
OKARA: A 15-year-old boy was allegedly raped by two suspects at Chak 22/4-L. As per FIR, the suspect called the victim’s mother on Sept 1 and asked her to send her son to Mandi Bahauddin for a job. When the boy reached there, the suspect, along with his accomplice, administered drugs to him and raped him. They also made a video of the incident to blackmail the victim and continued raping him for three
SHANGLA: Over a dozen government schools for girls in Shangla district have been closed, while a majority of primary schools for girls have been functioning with a single teacher since January 2023, with educators fearing a decline in girls’ education. Official sources told Dawn that over a dozen schools in parts of Shangla had been completely closed since January 2023 when the caretaker government in the province was installed. They said teachers were transferred from schools
GUJRAT: Police arrested a prayer leader on charge of raping his minor student in the mosque in the Azizpura locality of Saddar Kharian. Reports said the father of a 12-year-old boy lodged a complaint with the police, saying that his son had gone to have a Holy Quran lesson from the prayer leader who would also teach other students in the mosque. The suspect took his son to a small room where the sound